Seven members of the same family, with anti-al-Qaeda links, killed in Baghdad

According to security forces in the Iraqi capital, gunmen with silenced-weapons, attacked the family, including three children, yesterday morning.

Security forces in Baghdad have reported that an armed group killed 7 members of the same family, including three children, in an attack in the town of Tarmiyah, just north of the capital. The three children were aged two, three and seven.

The shooting took place at 4am and sources believe that the perpetrators used silenced-weapons.

Two members of the family, including one of the murdered, were rumoured to belong to the anti- Al Qaeda militant group ‘Sahwa’, a Sunni armed faction, who resisted the terrorist network.

The murder came just one day after a wave of bombings and shootings shook Iraq, leaving 30 dead and over 100 wounded.

In the last month, 144 were killed in attacks across Iraq, with 264 wounded.

Despite the recent high death tolls, figures are markedly down on the peak of the violence in 2006 and 2007, which saw frequent sectarian attacks between Sunni’s and Shias.